Welcome to Route 113
by Lord Agravane the Undead
Summary: Yes! Because just what everybody needs is ANOTHER story about various grunts! M43 is a new grunt but he is disrespecting the admins. Will he and his Eevee, Aventurine settle into Team Magma alright?
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to Route 113**

_By Lord Agravane the Undead and with lots of help from Rattlehead_

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or the characters from the games. I do own the grunts I invented :P

* * *

**Part 1**

M5 and M6 were feeling proud. Team Magma had recently recruited a new grunt; a lad about their age who was originally called Jeremy Alberio but who was now known as M43. M43 already had his own Pokemon; a young Eevee who had been a gift from his grandparents in Unova. So Maxie had asked M5 and M6 to have some practise battles with M43, to help him train up his Eevee.

"Hey, you looking forwards to your first battle?" M6 asked the new recruit. M5 eyed him up curiously. M43 was a couple of inches taller than him and had longish, midnight-blue hair. His eyes were bluish-grey and he had a kind of naughty look about him.

"Yeah", M43 said, nodding and patting the Pokeball on his belt. "You guys wanna see my Pokemon?"

"Sure", M5 and M6 said. M43 released his Eevee, who gazed around curiously at its new surroundings, then squeaked in greeting. Both boys got down on their hands and knees to pet the Eevee. Enjoying the attention, Eevee strutted about and purred loudly.

"Awww, your Eevee's really cute", said M5, tickling the fluffy creature under its chin. "What's his name?"

"He's called Aventurine", said M43. "My Granddad bought him off a lady called Amanita for a thousand Pokedollars. He has Anticipation as his hidden ability and his IVs are all 31".

M5 caught M6's gaze and M6 rolled his eyes. That was the only problem with M43 so far; he kept showing off loads. He thought himself better than all the grunts and didn't even have a lot of respect for the admins. But as the lads had been entrusted to train him (and as they were still pretty new themselves), they didn't tell him off.

"Um, that's cool", said M5 and M6 nodded.

"Yes", said M43, tossing his hair back. "I have the best Pokemon out of all the grunts and he will win all of his battles".

"OK, so wanna put your money where your mouth is?" M5 asked. M43 blinked in confusion.

"He's asking you for a battle", said M6

"Oh! Oh yeah, sure". M43 petted Aventurine on her head. "Come on sweetie; let's show M5 what you can do".

M5 pressed the button on his Pokeball and his Slugma burst forth. "Go Bob!" he yelled.

"You called your Pokemon Bob?" scoffed M43.

"Bob, use Ember", said M5.

M6 smirked at M43. "You wanna pay attention rookie".

"Oi, who are you called rookie? Oh no, Aventurine!" Bob's fiery attack hit the Eevee and he yelped and staggered backwards.

"Oh, oh! Aventurine, quick use...Swift!" M43 gasped.

Aventurine shot out a flurry of bright stars, which smacked into Bob, causing him to topple over. However, he was quickly up again; gazing at M5 and ready for his next command.

"Bob, use Rock throw!" said M5.

M43 flapped his hands in dismay as his Eevee was pelted with a barrage of rocks. Finally Aventurine keeled over in a faint. M5 and M6 high fived each other and M43 rushed over to his Pokemon.

"Ohhh, poor Aventurine!" he howled. "Did that nasty Slugma beat you? There there, Daddy's got a lovely Revive here for you".

"Well done Bob!" said M5, hugging his Slugma (he was wearing his heat resistant outfit). "You did brilliantly".

M43 quickly revived Aventurine and soon, the little Eevee was back on his feet, rubbing round and round M43s' legs. M5 went over to him and held his hand out.

"Good battle M43", he said.

"Humph", said M43, grudgingly accepting M5's handshake.

"Hey, how's it going?" A voice from behind made the three boys look round. Tabitha and a couple of female grunts had just entered the Battle Chamber.

"We're doing Pokemon battles and it's really great", M6 said eagerly. "M5 just had one with M43".

"The clue's in the name, M6", said M4, folding her arms across her chest. "The BATTLE Chamber, uhuh?"

"Oops", said M6.

"Nice one", said Tabitha. "Ok, I'll battle the winner. Who won?"

M43 made a face. M5 blushed and M6 pointed to him.

"M5, oh cool! OK, get ready then kid. Make sure you win cus if you don't, I'm gonna do something terrible to you".

"Balls!" said M43 rudely. He was still annoyed at M5 beating him. "Something terrible? M5, I hope he sits on you".

M5 raised his eyebrows. The other grunts tried desperately not to laugh and Tabitha did his best Cyrus Face.

"That's not funny", he said.

The Battle Chamber was mostly silent, apart from frantically restrained sounds of snorting and choking.

M43 looked delighted but Tabitha was far from happy.

"It's not funny, it isn't! You lot, stop trying to laugh. Shush, all of you. Now!"

All the grunts burst out laughing, some of them falling onto the floor from it.

"What's going on?" said Maxie, who had just walked in. "What is wrong with these grunts?"

"They're laughing at something that is NOT funny", said Tabitha. "M43 insulted me!"

Maxie turned to M43, who was laughing hardest of all. He managed to sober up and scrambled to his feet.

"Uh, yeah Boss?"

"What did you say to Tabitha?"

"No, don't say it out aloud again!" said Tabitha, as he envisioned the other grunts going hysterical once more. "Whisper it in Maxie's ear".

Still sniggering, M43 went over to Maxie and did as he was bid. Maxie's eyes widened and his lip twitched slightly.

"There, wasn't that a dreadful thing to say about such a respected admin as me" Tabitha said indignantly. "It's not funny at all, is it Boss? You must tell M43 off".

"Uh, well, yes. Yes, actually that was very rude", said Maxie, assuming a stern expression. "M43, I insist that you apologise to Tabitha at once".

"But it was funny!" said M43.

"No, no, you can't say things like that to the admins", said Maxie. "If I would have been rude like that at your age, my Mom would have spanked me".

M43 looked uncomfortable. Then he said, "But your Mom's not here".

"Well, yes", said Maxie. "But...SHE CAN BE!" He whipped out his mobile phone and showed M43 a picture of one of his contacts; a middle aged lady who looked rather like him.

"Hahaha, it's my Mom! I'm going to call her unless you apologise to Tabitha, right now".

The grunts starting laughing again, except for M43, who had gone quite pale.

"You wouldn't, would you Boss?" he gasped.

Maxie began typing numbers into the keypad.

"OK, OK!" said M43. "I'm sorry, Tabitha! Better?"

Tabitha smirked. "Call that an apology?"

M43 sighed. "Alright, fine! I'm really sorry that I was so rude to you Tabitha. I won't do it again".

"With a cherry on top?" asked Tabitha.

"Oh, that's pushing it" M43 cried.

Tabitha looked at Maxie.

"Oops, my finger nearly accidentally hit the call button", said Maxie.

"Alright, that too!" M43 exclaimed. "Can I go now? I've got to spend the next 10 years hiding under my bed with embarrassment".

"Yes, off you go", said Maxie. M43 turned and shot out of the room like a Ninjask with its arse on fire. The girls yelled in delight and M6 did a naughty hand sign after him.

"Good, he's gone, the big babby", said M5. He looked at Tabitha. "Can we have our battle now?"

"Hmm..." said Tabitha.

"I didn't laugh", said M5. "Well, I sort of didn't. OK, I tried the hardest out of all the grunts not to".

"Yeah, go on then", said Tabitha, smiling again and patting M5 on the shoulder. M6 gave M5 the thumbs up and the other grunts giggled.

"Haha, we're going to watch you guys!" said M4. M5 blushed and Maxie shook his head.

"No, no watching. I know you girls; you'll just be back seat battlers".

"But I can watch", said M6, poking himself in the chest. "I do everything with M5".

"Yeah, you two are permanently glued together", said M27.

M6 opened his mouth to protest. "Come on", Maxie said to the female grunts. "Let's go and find Courtney and..."

He was interrupted by another grunt charging in.

"Oh, there you are Boss!" she exclaimed. "Can you come and tell off M3? She drew a picture of me kissing Archie!"

The other girls (who had just about recovered), exploded in mirth again. M5 and M6 did revolted faces at each other and Tabitha put his hand over his mouth.

"Ok M42, I'm on my way", said Maxie. M42 led him out of the room by his jacket and M5 and M6 heard him muttering under his breath.

"I don't know about being the leader of a villainous team. It's more like running a kindergarten!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes:**

_A couple of mistakes in the last chapter, oops! M43's name is Alberio. M42 was the grunt who complained to Maxie that M3 had drawn her, not M3._

_M25 is older than the boys (18) but she looks about 16._

* * *

**Part 2**

A couple of days later, M43 had gotten over his embarrassment and was eager to train up Aventurine again. He was outside the volcano, helping M5 and M6 collect up ash so that they could take it to the Glass Workshop and have the chap there make flutes for Team Magma's Pokemon.

"I can't wait to go up to Route 113 when we're done here", M43 said to the other lads. "I bet there's tough Pokemon up there for Aventurine to battle".

Aventurine looked up from where he was digging and meowed in agreement.

"Look", M6 snuffled, holding up a sack. Even though the ash set his hay fever off worse, he had insisted on going with M5 and helping. "It's nearly full. How are you guys doing?"

"Mine's almost full too", said M5.

"And mine", said M43. He checked his watch. "Say, it's only just after midday. If we finish soon, you reckon we'll be allowed to go today?"

"Hmm, I don't see why not", said M5. "We can go and ask the Boss in a few minutes".

M43 resumed his gathering, eager to finish so they could visit Route 113. He had a splendid image in his head of Aventurine defeating tons of powerful wild Pokemon and M5 and M6 standing there, overawed. It would be excellent!

Perhaps he could even catch some Pokemon too. M5 and M6 still only had their original Pokemon. M43 longed to have more then one, so he could show off in front of the lads. But Aventurine was and would always be his favourite.

Five minutes later, the boys had finished and they set off for Maxie's office to deliver the soot sacks to him. However, they met him coming out of the Mysterious Round Purple Room, carrying a sheaf of papers under his arm.

"Ah, hello boys", said Maxie. "I see that your soot sacks are really full. Well done, you must have all worked very quickly. Would you like some tea and scones?"

"Oooh, yes please", said M6.

"Oh no, no, remember!" said M43, nudging him. "Route 113. Wild Pokemon!"

"Wild Pokemon?" Maxie enquired.

"Yeah, we wanna take the ash to the Glass Workshop please Boss", said M43 eagerly. "Can we?"

"Hmm". Maxie looked thoughtful. "Well, I don't see why not..."

M43 grinned in delight at the other two and they smiled back.

"But you three can't go alone", Maxie continued. "The Pokemon up there are of a higher level than your Pokemon and it would be dangerous".

"Awwww!" protested M43. "But we wanna train up our Pokemon and oof!" M5 (worried that Maxie wouldn't let them go if M43 threw a wobble), covered up his mouth.

"Um, will come with us then Boss?" M5 asked.

"I can't, I'm sorry", said Maxie. "I have all this paperwork to do and it will take ages. But Tabitha isn't very busy at the moment. I'll go and ask him to accompany you".

"That's great, thanks!" said M5 and M6 snuffled and nodded. M43 (still with his mouth covered) made a groaning noise and rolled his eyes.

* * *

"M43, stop being such a big whinge-bag", M5 grumbled. "Maxie's only been gone 30 seconds and you've used up about a zillion kilos of oxygen with your moaning so far".

"Is oxygen measured in kilos?" M6 asked.

"It's not FAIR!" M43 whined. "I feel like a baby now".

"Oh give it a rest", said M5. "You're just sore that you had to say sorry to Tabitha the other day for cheeking him".

"It's not that at all", M43 pouted. "Me and Aventurine don't wanna be babysitted by that fat plonker!"

"You're so rude!" M5 exclaimed. "If me and M6 were tattletales, we'd tell the Boss what you said and then you wouldn't be allowed to go".

"And you'd have to apologise to Tabitha again", M6 said.

"And the Boss would film it this time", M5 added.

"Yeah and post it onto the internet so EVERYBODY would see!"

"You guys are mean" huffed M43. He leaned against the wall and folded his arms. He sighed a couple of times but M5 and M6 ignored him.

After a minute, M43 looked up. He had lost his scowl and seemed a little brighter.

"OK, you guys are right", he said. "I'm gonna stop moaning and just look forward to the trip".

"Good", said M5, sounding pleased.

"Um..." M43 shuffled his boots. "I think I'll just go and get some Potions from my room. You know, in case Aventurine needs them".

"Yeah, sure", said M5. "That's a good idea, M43".

"Shall we wait for you here or come and get you?" M6 asked.

"Uhm, just wait for me, I won't be long", said M43.

"Ok then", said M6 and M5 gave him the thumbs up.

M43 grinned and set off, swinging his soot sack over his shoulder.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Tabitha, M5 and M6 were waiting outside the Mysterious Round Purple Room for M43. Tabitha was wondering if he asked nicely, whether Maxie would let him have a go with his new Teasmade. M5 and M6 were fooling about because they were bored.

"I'm Archie, leader of Team Aqua", said M5. He grabbed M6 in a hug and kissed him. "I love you M6, let's get married".

"Ewwwwwww!" M6 cried. He wiped his cheek, then wiped it on Tabitha's jacket. "Jab, barleys!"

"Huh?" said Tabitha, coming out of his daydream.

"Archie just kissed me!" said M6.

"Um...OK?" said Tabitha. He checked his watch and sighed.

"What's keeping M43? Are you guys sure he said to meet him back here?"

"Yeah, definitely", said M5. "He said wait for him and he wouldn't be long".

"Well, he's sure taking his time", Tabitha said.

"Shall we go and find him?" M6 offered.

"Yeah, you had better", said Tabitha. "We can't wait here all day".

M5 and M6 set off down the corridor. They passed, the Tea Room, the Computer Games Room and a storeroom. As they rounded the corner, they nearly ran into M25, who was studying a photo with her head down.

"Oops, sorry M25!" the boys said.

"Uh, that's OK", said M25. "Run along now".

"Say, is that a photo of Maxie?" M5 asked.

"Nope, no, not at all", said M25, hiding the photo behind her back. "Off you go guys!"

"Oh, wait!" said M5. "Have you seen M43? We're going to Route 113 with him but he went to get some Potions and hasn't come back".

"M43? The new guy with dark blue hair? Yep, sure. I saw him five minutes ago, leaving the volcano. He had a soot sack with him and seemed pretty excited about something".

M5 and M6 gasped. M25 shuffled away furtively, trying to keep the photo hidden from them.

M5 and M6 stared at each other.

"Oh shit!" said M5.


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3**

M43 was feeling pretty pleased with himself. It had been so easy to trick M5 and M6 and sneak off on his own. He'd only passed M25 and she'd been so busy drooling over a photo of Maxie, she had not noticed him at all.

Now here he was on Route 113, ready to battle and capture some wild Pokemon. M43 gazed round, taking in his surroundings. Mount Chimney rose up behind him; blotting out the sun and leaking flurries of ash down. The ash drifted about in the afternoon breeze, coating the long grass with a pale grey hue. Lumps of rock were scattered about here and there, creating a natural maze in some places.

M43 released Aventurine from his Pokeball. The little Eevee gazed round, sniffed the air and promptly sneezed. M43 chuckled and patted his head.

"It's a bit dusty up here, uhuh? You ready for some serious battling then, sweetie?"

Aventurine chirruped and headbutted M43's hand in an affectionate way.

"Awesome, Ok then, lets go!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Tabitha, M5 and M6 were heading up to Route 113 as fast as they could. They were unable to fly there on a Pokemon because the ash was too thick. However, what M43 didn't know was that there was a short cut in Team Magma's Base. Inside the Mysterious Round Purple Room was a warp panel and this panel teleported anybody to the north side of the Base. There, another secret entrance opened almost directly onto Route 113. This was where Tabitha and the grunts were, armed with their Pokemon and feeling annoyed.

"Honestly, Maxie is not going to like this if he finds out", Tabitha said. "I just hope we can find M43 quickly and that he hasn't wandered off too far".

"Yeah, he's a right dozy git", said M5. "M43, I mean. Not the Boss".

"Tabitha knows that, duh!" said M6 and he nudged M5.

"Hey, behave now and keep your wits about you", Tabitha said to the boys. "Come on, let's look for M43".

"Sure", said M5 and M6 tried to reply but sneezed loudly because of the flying ash. He covered his mouth with a handkerchief and set off after the other two.

What kinds of Pokemon are up here?" M5 asked. "Any rare ones?"

"Hm, there are Sandshrew, Slugma, Spinda and Skamory", replied Tabitha.

"Hey, Slugma", M5 said eagerly. "Is that where the Boss got mine from?"

"No, yours was hatched from an egg", said Tabitha. "His mom and dad were wild caught from up here though".

"Cool!" said M5. "Maybe we can catch a girl Slugma, so Bob can have a girlfriend?"

"We gotta catch an M43 first", smirked M6.

"Yeah and hope a Pokemon doesn't catch him!" said Tabitha.

"Is he really in danger?" M5 asked, concerned. "I mean, he's annoying but I don't want him to get eaten by a Pokemon".

"Or his Eevee", M6 sniffled. "Aventurine is sweet!"

"He should be Ok if he meets any of the first three", said Tabitha. "He can easily outrun Slugma and Spinda are peaceful. Sandshrew would probably leave him and Aventurine alone too. But, if they run into a Skamory..."

Tabitha paused in an ominous manner and the lads looked worried.

"Lucky for him and us, Skamory are pretty rare here", Tabitha continued. "But still, once we find the little pest, I'm gonna scare the pants off him with tales of Skamory doing gruesome and painful things to silly grunts who run off on their own".

* * *

So far, M43 was having a splendid time. Aventurine had defeated two Slugma and a Sandshrew and had gone up to Level 11. M43 sat on a rock, petting him and giving him a Potion to drink. Aventurine lapped up the liquid from the neck of the bottle, enjoying the sweet flavour. As he drank, his energy returned and once the bottle was empty, he was bouncing around and raring to go once more.

"Good boy! Shall we find some more wild Pokemon to battle now? Or shall we try and capture one?" M43 held up his bag. "I've got some Pokeballs in here. "It'd be neat to have a Sandshrew, don't you think so?"

Aventurine put his long ears down and growled.

"Alright then, alright! No rodents!" laughed M43. "Let's go on further and see if we can find something really cool!"

M43 and Aventurine set off again, heading down the Route in the direction that would take them to Fallabor Town, a few miles on. They walked off the path, swishing through the long grass in the hopes of finding more Pokemon.

A few minutes passed but no Pokemon appeared. M43 became impatient. He leaned against a large rock and scowled.

"Where are all the Pokemon? I'm bored and the soot sack's getting heavy".

Aventurine meowed and trotted over to a clump of brambly bushes, wanting to explore. He sniffed the bushes and began to dig by their roots. M43 yawned and put his soot sack down.

Suddenly, a Skamory leapt out of the bushes with a furious scream and a clashing of wings. Aventurine hissed in fear but held his ground, so as to protect his trainer. And M43 stared in horror, having never seen such a Pokemon before. A giant steel bird, nearly as tall as him and with wings like knives. That wasn't a Pokemon; it was a creature from a nightmare.

The Skamory flapped its wings, slashing the bushes and grass alike and sending up great clouds of dust. Aventurine wanted to battle but M43 was having none of it. He wouldn't risk his Eevee, not against that creature.

"Aventurine, come back!" yelled M43. The little Eevee ran towards him but as its ability was Anticipation and not Run Away, it wasn't fast enough. The Skamory charged at it and fearful for his Pokemon's safety. M43 raced forwards and grabbed Aventurine. A sharp wing cut across, slicing through M43's hood and missing the top of his head by about half an inch.

M43 turned and tried to run for it but Skamory whacked him with the blunt side of his wing, knocking him flying. M43 crashed onto his back; his bag split open and his remaining potions smashed and spilt out everywhere. Aventurine leapt free and on his own initiative, used Swift. Sparkling stars flew out from him and smacked into Skamory. Unfortunately, Swift, being a Normal type move, wasn't very effective against the armoured bird. It staggered backwards, dazed but then quickly recovered.

"Oh no! Come on Aventurine!" M43 wailed, grabbing at his Pokemon again. "We gotta run for it!" He managed to catch the Eevee and tried to escape. But Skamory sliced at him once more, this time cutting him across the legs. M43 cried out in pain as his heat resistant stockings were sliced open and the wound drew blood. He collapsed to the ground, dropping Aventurine. The Eevee yelped and then, seeing the Skamory approaching, snarled and fluffed up all its fur, ready for once last attack.

"Run, Aventurine!" M43 yelled, despite the pain form his wounds. "Leave me and save yourself!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Part 4**

However, Skamory wasn't interested in eating a boring grunt. It would much rather have a juicy little Eevee. It readied itself for the kill but was interrupted by a shout from behind M43.

"Mightyena, use Dark Pulse!"

Looking round, M43 saw that Tabitha, M5 and M6 had arrived and Tabitha had released his Mightyena to battle. The Dark Pulse hit Skamory; draining its energy and delivering a one hit K-O to it. Skamory fell to the ground with a clang and Aventurine hissed at the loud noise.

"That's great, Mightyena, well done!" Tabitha said to his Pokemon. Mightyena trotted over to him and Tabitha patted him on the head. Then he hurried over to the wounded M43. M5 and M6 had taken off M43's top and hood and torn it into strips so that they could bandage his cut legs up. Aventurine was licking M43's face, trying to comfort him.

Tabitha had been going to scold M43 but when he saw that the grunt was hurt and still frightened, he hadn't the heart to. "Hey, you alright now?" he asked kindly.

"Oh! You saved Aventurine!" exclaimed M43 and then (to the astonishment of the others), he flung his arms round Tabitha and hugged him. "Thank you so much!"

"Uh, that's OK", said Tabitha, hugging M43 back. It was a bit more experience for Mightyena, huh?"

"Ugh, I can't believe I was so dumb!" M43 looked like he was about to cry. "Poor Aventurine. He coulda died and it was all my fault for running off".

"Don't worry about that now", said Tabitha, rubbing M43's back. "He's fine, see, no harm done". M43 looked over at Aventurine, who was regarding Mightyena warily. Mightyena sniffed at Aventurines' ears, then he rolled over on his back to show he was friendly. Aventurine wagged his tail and dived on him and the two Pokemon began to play wrestle.

"Haha, cool, they've made friends", said M5. The others laughed too, even M43, though his legs were pretty sore. His Eevee had never had another Pokemon to play with before and it was neat to see him with a friend.

"I must ask though", Tabitha said. "Why did you run off instead of waiting for us?"

M43 blushed. "I just wanted to prove I was grown up and stuff. I didn't want to be treated like a baby".

Tabitha patted his back. "Hm, you know, sometimes being grown up is about knowing when you need help and knowing when to go alone. Even Maxie wouldn't go on his own to an area with dangerous wild Pokemon".

"Really?" said M43, looking a little less upset.

"Of course. We're Team Magma; we all help each other out and stick together".

"Um, that sounds good", said M43 and he smiled a little.

"Yeah", said M5. "As M4 would say _The clue's in the name - Team Magma_. We're a team".

M43 grinned.

* * *

"OK, shall we head back to the Secret Base then?" said Tabitha.

"But what about the Glass Workshop?" M43 asked. "Oh, I think I lost my soot sack too".

The others looked round. "No, you're alright, it's just over by that rock", said M6, pointing towards where M43 has rested before.

"Oh good! I thought it was lost when we were attacked".

M6 went over to get the soot sack and M5 and Tabitha helped M43 to stand up. "Can you walk?" Tabitha asked. "The Glass Workshop isn't far from here but if your legs hurt too much, we'll go back to the Base".

"Oh no, I'm alright, I wanna take my soot sack in", said M43. "Thanks M6!" he added on as M6 gave him the sack.

"No problem", said M6.

"OK, let's go and have some flutes made", said Tabitha. The four guys set off; with Tabitha holding M43's arm round his shoulders, to help him walk. Aventurine and Mightyena trotted along in front, wagging their tails and sniffing at any interesting clumps of grass they encountered.

"Say, will the Boss be mad at me when he finds out what I did?" M43 asked.

Tabitha shook his head. "Finds out what?"

"Uh, you know...running off and stuff".

"Nope, I've forgotten all about it so I can't tell him".

"Really?" M43's eyes were wide.

"Yeah! Although..." Tabitha smirked a little. "My room is really messy. It could do with being tidied up, you know".

"Uh?" said M43, puzzled. M5 nudged him.

"Steady on, you'll make him fall", said M6.

"Oh!" said M43, his brain suddenly operating again. "Ohh yeah, sure. I can do that".

"Good boy", said Tabitha.

* * *

The following day, Maxie was checking on his staff to make sure they were all alright. He peeped his head around the doorway to Tabitha's room, where he saw Tabitha and M43 playing with a Teasmade. Tabitha had told Maxie about the Skamory attack (explaining why M43s' legs were cut) and so Maxie had let Tabitha borrow his Teasmade as a reward.

M43 was sitting on a comfy chair, wearing a brand new top and hood and with his legs bandaged up properly. His Eevee and Tabitha's Mightyena were curled up together, sleeping on a blanket on the bed. Tabitha was standing next to M43, explaining how the Teasmade worked.

"So you set the alarm for when you want to wake up and then the Teasmade automatically started preparing your tea".

"Wow, that's so cool!" said M43. "And you can tell it how much milk and how many sugars you want, as well?"

"Sure", said Tabitha. "Let's see how to do that..." He picked up the instruction booklet.

Maxie smiled and left the room, pleased that M43 had made friends with Tabitha and was settling in. He walked down the corridor, passing Courtney and M42, who were discussing planting some hydrangeas outside the volcano, to make it prettier.

"Can we do that, Boss?" Courtney asked. "It'd look really nice". M42 nodded eagerly.

"Hm, yes, of course", said Maxie. "But don't plant any near the entrance or the exit. We don't want to give anybody clues on how to get in".

"Alright then, thanks!" The girls went skipping off with excitement. Maxie continued along, wondering where the other boy grunts were. He finally found them in the Computer Room, playing on an old Space Invaders arcade machine. M25 was there too, watching them.

"I'm playing the winner!" she said.

"Sure, OK then", said M5.

There was a great deal of 8-bit noise from the arcade cabinet, complimented by the frantic shouts of the lads. At last, the game was over and M5 and M6 checked their scores.

"Awwww, I lost", sighed M6. M5 fist pumped the air.

"I'm playing you M5!" said M25 and she stood next to him, where M6 had previously been.

"Are you good?" M6 asked her, wiping his nose on a clean handkerchief.

"Yeah but I might still lose", said M25. She poked M5 in the side. "If I lose, you have to make me do a forfeit".

"Uh, sure", said M5. "What like?"

"Um, something like...I have to kiss the Boss!"

Maxie hastily left the Computer Room.

_Well at least everybody seems like they are OK_ Maxie thought. _Yes, it's nice and peaceful today. No trouble from Team Aqua and everybody is enjoying themselves or working hard_.

Just then, M42 came racing round the corner, colliding with Maxie. He staggered backwards and M42 gasped in a dramatic fashion.

"Oh, there you are Boss! Quick, you have to come with me, it's terrible!"

"Why, what is wrong?" Maxie asked, concerned.

"M3 is dating a Team Aqua grunt!"

Maxie took off his glasses so he could facepalm.

"So much for a peaceful day!"

**The End**


End file.
